The discussion paper, "Local Exchange Systems - Designing Community Incentives" pitches localisation as one of the systemic and strategic ways of building adaptive capacity of communities towards climate change and potential risks of economic globalisation. It examines the role of alternative economics to provide incentives in form of coupons, vouchers, tokens, rewards etc. to people for ecosystem regeneration, local production and consumption of goods and services.

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The need for a climate resilient approach to agriculture is critical for India where more than 80 percent agriculturists are small-holder farmers. The insights, lessons, and experiences gained from WOTR’s climate change adaptation project are formulated into a series of Position Papers on various themes.

Position Paper

Rearing livestock in dry land regions has been developed by pastoralist communities over centuries and it is a complex Social–Ecological System (SES) with sub–systemic linkages, knowledge systems and institutions that maintain the resilience of dry land ecosystems. The Indian livestock sector contributes for 40 percent to the agricultural GDP in the semi-arid regions and 70 percent in the arid regions.

Position Paper

Food and nutritional security (FNS) is a complex issue given its reliance on climatic as well as non-climatic factors that are intertwined and interdependent. When climate change is superimposed, it further worsens the situation as food production,

one of the critical ecosystem services, is impacted the most.

Position Paper

Rural communities face the daily reality of resource insecurity - a combination of scarcity (insufficiency inaccessibility and unavailability), vulnerability (weakness subject to damage and hazards) and stress (use exceeds availability). It is a very real condition of everyday life that relates to the communities’ reduced ability to cope with, anticipate and recover from any further detrimental impact.

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Food is about agriculture, about ecology , about (wo)man's relationship with nature ... about nation-building, cultural struggles, friends and enemies ... and at times, even about sex said the food expert Mark Kurlansky . And he couldn't have been more right. In our own experiences, upon deep reflection, we see that food for mind, food for the body , and the food for spirit drive the human struggle for meaningful existence.

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What is freaking the world out of its mind is the specre of China’s and India’s poordeveloping 70% of half of the worlds population is poised for growth – which means, that much energy demand. . . and carbon emissions . The pressure on thenewly growing populations and countries, to switch to clean energy and adopt a low car on path, has thus become tremendous . India, declaring a 9% growth rate, stands in the cr oss-hairs of this global pressure.

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Scenario 1: Food prices have nearly doubled between 2004 and 2008 and continue to remain high. Prices of staples like wheat, rice and maize doubled and tripled in the last five years. While a range of factors have contributed to food price rises, financial speculation in agricultural commodities, believe many, has magnified market volatility.